As an online seller, you have seen the circle of life – you woo the customer, they order your product, you ship it off and there it ends. The cycle starts all over again and repeats itself. However, is that all there is to a transaction? No, there is a great deal more for you to do to nurture your relationship with your customers. You need to have a solid after-sales plan in place to ensure that the customers keep coming back.
It is essential to establish a relationship with your customers beyond the transaction. Focus on adding value to your products. In the words of Gopal Sripada, senior product marketing manager at customer relationship management software maker Zoho,
“The quality of service and better user education will help customers use products effectively and gain productivity and results. Once customers are happy with the service, they will be happy to spread the word of mouth.”
How Does an After-Plan Help?
A customer buying a product is only winning half the battle. The rest of it is in the after sales. What includes after-sales, you ask. It includes anything and everything that you do after the transaction to ensure happy customers. This, in turn, will give you good reviews and ratings, more recommendations and in turn more customers.
Here are a few after sales steps that you can take at a basic level:
- Send an acknowledgement – a simple thank you note acknowledging the sale and hoping for a continued association will do,
- Ask if they need any help with their purchase (if it is an appliance, they may need help in setting it up),
- Offer follow-up services in case of products that are a regular buy (like groceries),
- Ask for feedback and work on any pain points.
“By providing customers with solutions to the issues they care about, you’re helping them overcome and solve the problems that matter most to them and therefore, increasing the value of your what you have to offer,” says Mark Roberge, chief revenue officer of HubSpot, marketing and sales platform.
Making a Workable After-Sale Plan
The main aim is to ensure a bunch of satisfied and loyal customers. You can formulate an after sales policy based on your area of operations. Some of the suggestions given below can help you on the way:
Suggestions
If you have sold apparel, send a mini tutorial of sorts suggesting what accessories would go with it or how else to wear it. Say something like, ‘We see you just bought x. It will go well with these pair of earrings/handbag/shoes’.
Newsletters
Sign up your regular shoppers for newsletters. More importantly, take their permission before you do. If you sell biking gear, put accounts of biking trips, safety tips, must-haves on a bike ride and so on in the newsletter. If you deal in fitness gear, include diet tips, exercises, weight loss stories and best practises before and after a workout.
Request for reviews from special shoppers
Get in touch with bloggers and YouTubers who have shopped with you and request them to review their purchases. Leading YouTube vloggers are very influential. A video with your name on it in their channel will help spread your name. It will also establish a good relationship with the vloggers. Often, customers skip buying a product for lack of reviews and ratings.
Survey customers
For a more detailed idea on how you are doing, conduct regular surveys. Most people can think of surveys as a waste of time, so offer a reward. Make it anything from a discount to shopping points to some free product to tempt the shoppers. Surveys will give you a better insight on your performance parameters and see how you can create and keep happy customers.
Referral benefits
Give out referral benefits. A classic customer care line goes like this, ‘if you are happy with our service, don’t tell us, tell others. If you are not, don’t tell others, tell us.’ Request satisfied customers to refer friends. Give them an incentive to do so.
You can develop your after-sales strategy based on your product range. If you need any help in creating one, get in touch with Browntape. We are India’s largest ecommerce service provider and are at your service.
